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October 11, 2012

Five Sneaky Armbar Setups From Jean Jacques Machado, Rigan Machado, and John Will

Thanks to David Meyer for turning me onto this great article he wrote for Black Belt magazine earlier this year. David and John Will are long time friends and training partners, both of which are members of BJJ's Dirty Dozen (first twelve non-Brazilian BJJ black belts), and both being disciples of the Machado brothers. Here they offer five sneaky arm bar setups.

Enjoy!

"If you grapple, you know that when you’re battling an opponent with a
similar skill level, maneuvering him into a finishing hold such as the
cross-body armbar can be difficult because he knows what you know —
namely, that he should keep his arms in tight to avoid getting caught.How then can you advance to the next level and teach yourself to trap
a skilled opponent and finish him on the ground? There are three ways:

Be a better grappler. This means you must know more
than he knows, catch and hold him in positions that are difficult to
escape from, force him to make mistakes and capitalize on those
mistakes. To make all this happen, keep training. There’s no easy or
fast way to jump to this level.

Tire him out. Even when someone knows the attack
you’re attempting, being tired or weary can make it hard for him to fend
you off. You can facilitate his fatigue by fine-tuning your fitness
level — so he gets tired before you do — and by being smart about how
you expend your energy, resting in good positions and holding him in
positions that tire him out. Again, there’s no easy way to make this
happen.

Use sneaky setups. This strategy is one you can learn and practice right now, and it will have an immediate effect on your grappling game. That’s because your opponent can’t be prepared to foil your attack if he doesn’t see it coming.

To start you on that third path to success, this article will present five sneaky Brazilian jiu-jitsu
techniques to set up arm bars: one from the guard, one from the
side-control position, two from the back, and one while passing the
guard. Master each BJJ technique — sourced from Rigan Machado, Jean Jacques Machado and John B. Will — and you’ll be ready to devise plenty of others on your own."

Click here to be linked to the remainder of the article! And then make sure to head over to RCJ Machado to sign up for the 5 Brothers Camp starting two weeks from now! Last call on registration for the discounted rate. You will have the opportunity to learn these five setups plus about 500 more with all five of the brothers Machado! 15+ hours of mat time with the founding family of BJJ!